Tears Are Not Enough

"Tears Are Not Enough" is a 1985 charity single recorded by a supergroup of Canadian artists, under the name Northern Lights, to raise funds for relief of the 1983–85 famine in Ethiopia. It was one of a number of such supergroup singles recorded between December 1984 and April 1985, along with Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in the United Kingdom, USA for Africa's "We Are the World" in the United States, "Cantaré, cantarás" by a supergroup of Latin American and Spanish singers, Chanteurs sans Frontières's "Éthiopie" in France, and Fondation Québec-Afrique's "Les Yeux de la faim" in Quebec.

For the song by ABC, see Tears Are Not Enough (ABC song).
"Tears Are Not Enough"
Single by Northern Lights
from the album We Are the World
B-side"Tears Are Not Enough" (Instrumental)
ReleasedMay[1] 1, 1985
RecordedFebruary 10, 1985
StudioManta Sound Studios, Toronto
GenrePop rock, gospel
Length4:28
LabelColumbia 7073
Songwriter(s)David Foster (music)
Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance (lyrics)
Rachel Paiement (French lyrics)
Paul Hyde and Bob Rock (title)
Producer(s)David Foster
Jim Vallance (co-producer)

Although recorded independently of the USA for Africa project, it was included on the full-length We Are the World album.

The project was organized by Bruce Allen, who brought together a large group of artists to record a song written by David Foster, Jim Vallance, Bryan Adams, Rachel Paiement, Paul Hyde and Bob Rock. Foster and Vallance wrote the music and initial lyrics, Adams completed the English lyrics, Paiement wrote the one French verse, Rock & Hyde contributed the song title. The song was recorded on February 10, 1985 at Manta Sound studios in Toronto.

Foster revealed the melody of the song was originally offered to filmmaker Joel Schumacher as incidental music for his film St. Elmo's Fire (film). Schumacher reported hated it but was later, in Foster's words, "really pissed" when it showed up later as a charity single.[2]

The song was issued as the album's second and final single by Columbia Records[3] on May 1, 1985,[4] and quickly reached number one on the Canadian Top 40 chart. It also finished number one on the year-end Canadian charts for that year. The song's video also received extensive airplay on MuchMusic.

The vocals were recorded at Manta Sound Studios in downtown Toronto on Sunday, February 10, 1985. Gordon Lightfoot drove himself to the recording in a pick-up truck. Neil Young and Joni Mitchell arrived together in a taxi. Mark Holmes of Platinum Blonde arrived in a white stretch limousine.[5]

On December 22, 1985, CBC Television aired a 90-minute documentary by John Zaritsky on the song and its creation. A CBC reporter, Brian Stewart, had been the first Western journalist to bring the famine in Ethiopia to worldwide attention. The film was a Genie Award nominee for Best Documentary Film at the 7th Genie Awards in 1986.[6]

By 1990, the project had raised $3.2 million for famine relief projects in Africa. Ten percent of the funds raised was set aside to assist Canadian food banks.

Performers

Solo vocalists (in order)

Heard in duos or trios

Chorus members

Chorus members included:

Instrumentation and production

Recording process

Joni Mitchell later spoke to writer Iain Blair about the recording experience: "I know it sounds ridiculous, but I was literally starving when we did the session 'cause my yoga teacher had sent me to a psychic dietician who, while rubbing her chin and swinging her arm around in a circle, had diagnosed a lot of food allergies. The result was, predictably, that I was hardly allowed to eat anything, so by the time I arrived with an apple and a rice patty, my poor stomach was making all these strange noises. Then we get in the studio, and the engineer says he can't record 'cause he's picking up some weird rumbling sound coming from my direction. (She laughed.) And it was all pretty ironic, considering the subject matter!"[9]

At one point during the recording process, Foster also had Neil Young re-record his line after singing the word "innocence" flat, to which Young famously quipped, "That's my sound, man."[10]

Artists not appearing
  • Buffy Sainte-Marie - According to journalist Terry David Mulligan, Sainte-Marie was supposed to be part of the project but did not show up to recording sessions. As a result, the term "Buffy bailed" became an expression in certain Canadian music circles.[11]
  • Leonard Cohen - Because Cohen performed the day before the recording session in Copenhagen, Denmark, he would have been unable to appear on the recording.[12]
  • Randy Bachman - On the Toronto Mike'd podcast, Bachman revealed he was never asked to appear on the recording.[13]
  • Stompin' Tom Connors - The recording of "Tears Are Not Enough' overlapped with Connors' self-imposed retirement, a move meant to protest the lack of support given to Canadian stories by the policies of the Federal government. Therefore, Connors was unable for the sessions.

Video

The song's video opens with footage from Brian Stewart's original CBC News report on the famine, and then cuts to the performers singing the song in a studio. Near the end of the video, footage also appears from the 1985 NHL All-Star Game in Calgary, depicting the Campbell Conference All-Stars — including Wayne Gretzky, Grant Fuhr, Jari Kurri and Miroslav Frycer — singing along as the audience waves flags and banners in the air.[14]

2022 live version

A live version of "Tears Are Not Enough" was performed at the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame gala in Toronto on September 24, 2022. The rendition included many original Northern Lights members including soloists Adams, Hart, Hill and Cockburn plus new Canadian talent such as Alessia Cara and Charlotte Cardin.[15]

References
  1. The Canadian Encyclopedia
  2. "Tears (still) are not enough, 30 years later". CBC.ca. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  3. "Northern Lights - Tears Are Not Enough". Discogs. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
  4. Mcintosh, Andrew (February 22, 2016). "Tears Are Not Enough". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
  5. "JimVallence.com - Tears Are Not Enough". JimVallence.com. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  6. Sid Adilman, "Genie films are coming on strong". Toronto Star, February 14, 1986.
  7. "Toronto’s Jingle King still crooning". Toronto Star, Christopher Reynolds June 5, 2016
  8. "Who was who in Tears Are Not Enough". CBC News. February 10, 2015. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  9. Chicago Tribune, May 1, 1985.
  10. Kevin Chong, Neil Young Saved My Life, Georgia Straight, October 13, 2005.
  11. Terry David Mulligan: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 992, February 1, 2022.
  12. Feb 9, 1985 - Leonard Cohen at Falkoner Teatret, Copenhagen, Denmark, Setlist.fm - October 14, 2021
  13. Randy Bachman: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1340, October 8, 2023.
  14. Proteau, Adam (17 December 2013). "The story behind famous Canadian music video "Tears Are Not Enough" featuring NHL players – including Wayne Gretzky and a more-than-just-happy-to-be-there Mike Bossy". thehockeynews.com. The Hockey News. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  15. Friend, David (25 September 2022). "Alanis Morissette, Bryan Adams join Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame". CBC.ca. The Canadian Press. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
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